 infobox country native_name orcish empire of the pomarj common_name pomarj image_coat coat_pomarj_o gif image_map capital stoneheim major_cities highport blue provinces numerous nonhuman tribal territories resources silver electrum gold gems gems i-ii languages orc common goblin government_type unknown leader_title leader_name slave lords citizen people of the pomarj population 420 000 est demographics orc human human sof goblin hobgoblin halfling other demographic_numbers 180 000 120 000 60 000 40 000 15 000 5 000 religions orc pantheon beltar syrul various goblin gods alignment ce ne le platinum - gold - electrum - silver - copper - allies none enemies greyhawk ulek states especially the principality of ulek principality keoland celene duchy of urnst irongate culture culture culture due to the vast number of disparate nonhuman tribes filling this peninsula the pomarj has no one singular culture but violence few lands in the flanaess are as malign as the pomarj aspires to be and what examples of humanity continue to live here are considered a lower class slavery runs rampant in the pomarj both of human captives and of prisoners of war from the various intertribal conflicts those humans who continue to live on the peninsula tend to cluster in the nation nation's major cities though still under the rule of whatever humanoids claim the settlement that day they can at least manage to eke out a semblance of a life here this tends to be a much better life for those willing to sell out their own race to the orc orcs and goblin goblins who fill the pomarj; collaborators slave-traders thieves and assassins and the like those who are not among such a group tend to just barely get by unable to gather the funds or the will to leave there are rumors of large parts of the pomarj currently having been taken under the rule of a human network calling themselves merely the slave lords brokering deals with the various orc chieftains due to the difficulty of news traveling in or out of the country however this is for the moment nothing but a rumor geography geography geography the pomarj is a long arm of land extending from the sheldomar valley to separate the azure sea from the sea of gearnat the empire of nonhumans here encompasses nearly half of the mountainous pomarj peninsula its western border begins at the foothills of the central hills of the principality of ulek and continues through the middle of the suss forest dominating this land are two major features the ragged and monster-infested drachensgrab hills in its central fastness and the dark and forboding suss forest along the north-western border neither place is very well populated by humanity which has generally favored the valleys and lowlands along the coasts since the region was first settled instead these areas are under the firm control of orc and goblin tribes that claim the land under the banner of eternal hatred military military military the military of the pomarj such as it is consists entirely of disorganized tribes of humanoids as likely to be feuding with each other as with any outside forces this constant infighting means that even the hobgoblin tribes of the pomarj pose little threat to the nation nation's neighboring countries history history history the land known today as the pomarj was prior to the great migrations a millenium ago largely a desolate place inhabited by primitive human#flan flan tribes who worshiped powers of earth and sky its poor soil and fell reputation caused it to be avoided by all but the most desperate newcomers and it was eventually settled by small numbers of human#suloise suel who were unwelcome elsewhere and had no choice but to contend with the harsh terrain and its inhabitants they called these heights the suenha until they learned from the flan their original name the drachensgrabs literally the tomb of the dragon legends held that great powers of the earth slept beneath these hills along the coast of the peninsula and north to the mouth of the selintan small communities formed away from the birth and expansions of vast kingdoms across the flanaess it was not until the late third century cy when keoland inaugurated its imperialistic phase that there was renewed interest in the region the drachensgrab hills were long suspected by the dwarf dwarves of ulek as having great mineral wealth just waiting to be claimed and exploited in 295 cy an alliance between the prince of ulek and tavish i king tavish i of keoland produced an invasion force that crossed the jewel river and conquered and subjugated the region within a few short years the land was carved up into a dozen small baronies and awarded to favored families of the crown to be rules as subfiefs under the protection of the prince of ulek these barons became extremely wealthy from the mineral riches extracted from the mines over the next few decades though the conditions suffered by the less well-off citizens quickly led to it being termed the poor march in 305 cy highport was constructed upon the foundations of a smaller town in order to exploit this wealth with the rest of the world more than a century and a half later the power of the keoish throne waned after years of conflict the barons of the pomarj as it was by then known had no voice in the royal council at niole dra as they were technically subjects of the prince of ulek the latter withdrew from the kingdom to gain palatinate status from keoland in 461 cy and the barons of the pomarj broke with the prince of havenhill two years later to declare their own independence they took the city of highport as their capital and ejected the dwarven garrisons to begin ruling their petty states largely independently even from each other some took the title of archbaron duke or prince one going so far as to call himself the king of the drachensgrabs a few decades later conflict broke out in the lortmils between the elf elves dwarf dwarves and human men of the region and the orc orcs and goblin goblins this soon led to the hateful wars and the prince of ulek appealed to the former baronies of the pomarj to join the alliance for the strength derived from mutual defense and greater numbers the pomarj lords met in highport the following year to discuss their response but they saw little reason to involve themselves in what they considered an internecine conflict between essentially nonhumans further they feared being reabsorbed into the principality of ulek distrusting the motives of the prince thus they turned their backs on the alliance with the defeat of the orc and goblin armies at the hands of the hosts of ulek and celene country celene at the end of 510 cy the inevitable came to pass with nowhere else left to retreat the angry and beaten survivors fell back in the only direction not fortified against them in 513 cy these ravaged and vengeful armies emerged from the suss and descended upon highport in a frenzy of destruction the city was quickly sacked and burned; much of its population was put to the sword within mere months the orcs had driven out the local lords and taken over most of the former baronies of the pomarj so began the quick decline into decadence that continued almost to the present day the orc orcs and goblin goblins carved up the realm into small territories rules by individual tribes and chieftains human bandits and privateers still frequented the major cities and towns but the countryside became unsafe to travel in recent years rumors have begun to leak from the pomarj rumors of a network of human slave traders going only by the descriptive title of the slave lords though the truth or falsehood of this rumor is currently unknown if true this group group's existence seems to have done nothing to relieve the anarchy that has so well embedded itself within the peninsula of the pomarj 